22-243 problem

My brothers gun and his problem is he has been trying to get the bullets to touch the lands, (bergers & amax's). He has tried just setting the bullet in the case and chambering the round to see if it will push into the case from being jammed into the lands and it still will not touch. His accuracy has been erratic and not great from a custom gun. (Got used) its a Remington action with a PacNor barrel in a 1-8 twist and Mcmillen stock. We do not have a gauge to measure how far he is away from the lands. Also the cases at the max overall length they are hard to chamber.
Any ideas?

Are you sure it isnt actually seating the bullet and as you try to pull the case back out it isnt sticking in the rifling and pulling the bullet back out of the case? When you say its hard to chamber do you mean any empty unloaded case that has been resized? If so check your sizing die and make sure it is set to overcam.

Are you sure it isnt actually seating the bullet and as you try to pull the case back out it isnt sticking in the rifling and pulling the bullet back out of the case? When you say its hard to chamber do you mean any empty unloaded case that has been resized? If so check your sizing die and make sure it is set to overcam.

Click to expand...

Yes, we are sure its not touching at all.
Not sure if its a sized case or not but its at the max case OAL that its hard to cycle.

Yes thats with the case needing to be trimmed. So with the case at the max length and the bullet seated as far out as possible it still will not touch the lands.
Infact my brother cut the neck of a case so a bullet would slide into the case and tried to set a bullet into the barrel then chamber the case to set the bullet into the case using the lands. Didnt work as it still didnt touch.

Several things here. First, size a case properly. That does not mean size it all you can. Back off your sizing die about half a turn or better. Size the case and try it in the chamber. If it is tight, turn the die down a little. Try this until it goes with no effort. If this cannot happen, check the brass length. Trim length should be .010 under max. If it is not too long and it still will not chamber easily, even with the die set as far down as it will go, then you will probably need to try another sizer die. Sometimes one will not do enough with a particularly tight chamber.
Once that is done, use then longest bullet you have with a fairly blunt ogive. The amax is better than the vld, but use something even longer, if possible. If you still can not get rifling marks on the bullet, the lead must be either way too long, or burnt out. I can't imagine Pac-Nor making a chamber that long, that makes me think it is eroded so far it needs to be set back and re-chambered.
One other thing, make sure the expander ball is not pulling the shoulder of the case out upon sizing. If it sticks in the neck, it can do that. I once had trouble with a 243 that stuck badly and ruined several pieces of brass because I had not lubed the necks. I have found that simply using a plastic bore brush (not a bronze one, that makes it worse) in a drill does a good job cleaning the necks and make the expander ball pull through the neck easily. On the occasion that it is still a bit tough, I put a little lube on the brush and use it that way.
Try these things and let us know what you find. I am always curious with these things, and I like to learn.

Several things here. First, size a case properly. That does not mean size it all you can. Back off your sizing die about half a turn or better. Size the case and try it in the chamber. If it is tight, turn the die down a little. Try this until it goes with no effort. If this cannot happen, check the brass length. Trim length should be .010 under max. If it is not too long and it still will not chamber easily, even with the die set as far down as it will go, then you will probably need to try another sizer die. Sometimes one will not do enough with a particularly tight chamber.
Once that is done, use then longest bullet you have with a fairly blunt ogive. The amax is better than the vld, but use something even longer, if possible. If you still can not get rifling marks on the bullet, the lead must be either way too long, or burnt out. I can't imagine Pac-Nor making a chamber that long, that makes me think it is eroded so far it needs to be set back and re-chambered.
One other thing, make sure the expander ball is not pulling the shoulder of the case out upon sizing. If it sticks in the neck, it can do that. I once had trouble with a 243 that stuck badly and ruined several pieces of brass because I had not lubed the necks. I have found that simply using a plastic bore brush (not a bronze one, that makes it worse) in a drill does a good job cleaning the necks and make the expander ball pull through the neck easily. On the occasion that it is still a bit tough, I put a little lube on the brush and use it that way.
Try these things and let us know what you find. I am always curious with these things, and I like to learn.

I am using lapua brass 40.5gr. of H4831sc 90gr. berger VLD's with a base to bullet ogive length of 2.35 i beleive. I would have to measure OAL and can do that tomorrow but i can tell you with my 90grainers they will not fit in the mag box of my rem 700. It could be that the barrel is just shot out. 22-243 has never been known for being easy on barrels.

get the hornady OAL gage and a comparator set to find the lands (cartridge overall length). You will need to size down a modified 243 case with a bushing die to allow the 22 bullet to slip fit. I suspect you already have a redding bushing die, probably a 243 die with smaller bushings for your wildcat? so you just need to measure the ID and OD of your fired case and get the corresponding bushing & expander button for the modified case

when trying out the sizing method as previously stated, you can use a dry erase marker to color the brass and see where its hitting. this "may" give you some usable information depending where it marks.

have you eliminated the other variables? tried a mounting a different scope, for example? gone back to the original loads that worked best for the first owner? checked bedding, barrel to stock clearance, torque settings on all fasteners, etc? I could go on and on about the many things that have caused accuracy problems for me that didn't have anything to do with my reloading!

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